High-Pressure Sales Firm Targeting Elderly Shut Down
Service Plan UK Ltd pressured elderly people – some of whom had Alzheimer’s and dementia – into service agreements to protect household appliances.
UK Service Plan Ltd sold monthly and annual plans which they said would provide service cover for household appliances.
The company had a pattern of behaviour which involved targeting the elderly and vulnerable and creating direct debits without permission.
The company was subject to a successful winding up order at the High Court in London on 19 May 2025, and its director was disqualified for eight years.
A company which used high pressure sales tactics to sell service plans for household appliances has been shut down after an Insolvency Service investigation found it targeted the elderly and vulnerable.
UK Service Plan Ltd, registered at Princess Street in Manchester and formerly Trafalgar Place, Brighton, offered protection plans for white goods to cover the cost of callouts, replacement parts and labour.
The company charged around £29 a month for a service plan, and some people were persuaded to take on lengthy agreements of up to three and five years.
Additionally, the company pressured people – some via cold calls – into buying plans by offering a discount which they falsely claimed was only applicable if they pay on the day.
The Insolvency Service looked at 14 complaints which had been received from UK Service Plan Ltd customers, all of whom were over the age of 71.
Seven of the complainants were described as being vulnerable, with variable memory recall and conditions including Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Three were cold called despite being registered with the Telephone Preference Service.
Six had direct debits set up apparently without their permission and three were told they were existing customers when they were not.
Insolvency Service Chief Investigator Mark George said:
UK Service Plan Ltd targeted and pressured some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
They were persuaded into buying a service agreement, which it appears many did not want or need.
Being able to shut this company down is a vital step toward protecting the public from becoming victims of their bad business practices.
The company was not represented at the hearing and did not defend the petition, with the company’s director – 41-year-old Mohamed Anoir Dhimi, of Manchester – giving an undertaking to the court not to be involved in the promotion, formation or management of any company whose business is in the same or a similar field for a period of eight years.
Dhimi did not fully co-operate with the investigation and provided limited information to the Insolvency Service.
As evidence of poor trading practice, between August 2021 and July 2022, it was found the company had paid more than £200,000 in refunds to 740 people.
In 2022, the company claimed to have a turnover of more than two million pounds.
But the recorded cash in the filed accounts did not match the balance in the known bank account at the relevant date.
In addition, the company failed to maintain accurate records and accounts the company filed at Companies House contained potentially false information.
UK Service Plan Ltd, incorporated in 2021, was last registered at an address on Princess Street in Manchester. It claimed to have 10 employees, but no actual trading address has been found.
The company had previously been registered in London and Brighton.
The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator of UK Service Plan Ltd.
The Insolvency Service worked in collaboration with Trading Standards on the investigation.
All enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to the Official Receiver of Public Interest Unit: PO Box 16664, Birmingham, B2 2JQ. piu.or
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/appliance-servicing-company-which-used-high-pressure-sales-tactics-on-elderly-and-vulnerable-is-shut-down